Sabotage
by HieiYYH
Summary: Kurama's nose gets him into trouble just before the dark tournament and the group has to help him out before their time is up.
1. Kurama the Fox

_That smell,_ Kurama thought as he walked down the street of the city, _It's amazing, I wonder what it is._ He kept walking with his nose in the air and kept turning corners. It was like cookies mixed with flowers and every other wonderful scent he had ever smelled. As he walked through different allies toward a more residental area, he passed house after house and it got stronger.

It was strongest in front of a suburban house. He stopped in the front yard. Nothing was unusal about this house, except for the fact that it was clearly empty. Kurama walked around to the backyard and saw overgrown vegitation covered it.

"So," someone from above him said, "there really is a fox demon in human world." A woman jumped out of a tree in front of him.

"Who are you?" Kurama asked, "And what is that smell?" A metal box suddenly appeared around him, trapping him in place. _Why didn't I sense this?_ he thought.

The woman said, walking around his box, "Let's get one thing straight, are you or are you not Yoko Kurama of demon world?"

"I am," he replied, "what do you want with me?"

"Good," she said, "we found the right tod." Kurama narrowed his eyes. "You're probably wondering why you can't smell me right now, or why you didn't smell this metal box near you before it was sprung. The scent you're smelling dulls the scenses of fox demons."

Kurama said, "You still haven't answered me!" He pulled out a rose. Gas filled the room and he got light headed.

"Don't worry," the woman explained, "you'll wake up in a few minutes and you'll start to understand. We can't have you in tip top shape for the dark tournament and help that human team win, now can we." He fell to the ground of the box and fell asleep.

* * *

When he woke up he blinked a few times. _Strange,_ he thought, _it almost feels like-_ he looked down at his body and saw white paws- _oh no. What did she do to me?_ He stood up and realized he was in his full fox form with 5 tails and white fur. He looked around, the box was completely gone. _Where did she go?_ he thought. In his fox form he couldn't talk.

"Don't worry," the woman said from a tree branch, "I only reverted you back into your original fox form with your human personality in tact and no, you won't be able to change back. Have fun fighting in the dark tournament like that!" She jumped up and disappeared.

 _That scent she used dulled my sense of smell!_ He complained, _The dark tournament's only a month away. I have to do something! Hiei was right._

* * *

He remembered back to the conversation Hiei, Kuwabara, and him had before the weekend started.

"Can't we take a break?" Kuwabara asked, out of breath.

"We have one month before you fight against demons on your own," Hiei replied, "there isn't any time for breaks."

"Actually," Kurama said, "a weekend shouldn't hurt."

"Hn."

Kuwabara shouted, "Alright Kurama! Come on Hiei, lighten up."

"You really think he deserves a break?" Hiei asked Kurama, "At this rate he'll be dead in the first round."

Kurama replied, "If you're so eager, keep training yourself during the weekend. I'll be back here on Monday."

Back to the present moment, Kurama figured he had to do something. _Perhaps Genkai will have a solution,_ he thought, _I have to get to her!_

* * *

Kurama ran up the stairs on all fours to Genkai's temple. He heard Yusuke talking to her from the front yard. _Yusuke!_ He thought, _Oh no, I forgot, back when I was a full blooded demon my telepathy didn't work with humans. I have to find Hiei!_ He looked around but couldn't sense his energy, nevermind smell him.

"Come on grandma," Yusuke whined, "one lunch break isn't going to stop all of the progress we've made."

"Progress?" she asked sarcastically, "Dimwit you've hardly improved in the past month."

"Hey," Yusuke said, looking at Kurama, "look that this little guy. You sure are weird looking, what kind of animal has 5 tails?"

Genkai said, "It's a demon fox, Yusuke. What do you want?!" _She doesn't know it's me,_ Kurama thought nervously, _I have to find Hiei before she attacks me for trespassing._ He ran into the forest.

"Grandma you scared it away!" Yusuke complained.

Kurama ran through different parts of the woods until he sensed Hiei's energy high in a tree. He was sleeping in a branch like usual. _Hiei!_ He pleaded from the roots, _Talk to me! Look down! It isn't working. My telepathy isn't working! Why? Hiei!_ He started making whinning and barking noises. _Hiei pay attention!_

 _What the hell is that noise?_ Hiei asked himself as he woke up. He looked down and saw a white fox with several tails scratching and whinning at the bottom of the tree. "Kurama?" he asked, "How did you get back into that form? I thought you were human now." He jumped down to ground level.

 _Telepathy Hiei!_ Kurama begged, _Try your telepathic powers. Come on!_ He used his teeth and tugged on Hiei's jacket.

"Stop that!" Hiei shouted, "What's the matter with you? Wait a minute, you can't talk in that form, can you?" _What about now? Kurama?_ He tried telepathically, _Nothing, maybe this isn't Kurama but some sort of other demon fox._ "You're not answering me."

 _His telepathy isn't working either,_ Kurama thought, _It's me Hiei!_

Hiei asked, "Are you Kurama or someone else?" He nodded. "What happened to you? Nevermind, you can't answer that." Hiei bent down and picked Kurama up.

 _Put me down!_ He demanded. _I can still walk, Hiei!_ Kurama squirmed in his arms as he walked back to Genkai's temple.

* * *

"Alright, alright already," Genkai said, "we can take a break you big cry baby. At the dark tournament you won't get a break in the middle of the fights. They fight-"

"To kill," Yusuke finished, "You're starting to repeat yourself in old age."

"Shut up," she replied.

"Yusuke!" Hiei shouted, coming out of the woods, "We have a problem. This is Kurama." He held him out by the scruff of his neck.

 _You're choking me!_ Kurama thought, _Only kits can be held like this. Stop it! Put me down!_ He jumped out of Hiei's hand.

Yusuke looked outside and said, "Hey, it's that fox we just saw. That's Kurama? What happened to him?"

"When he's in this form he can't talk," Hiei explained, "and my telepathy isn't working like usual.

Genkai said, "This is bad."


	2. Rounding Up the Troups

Hiei explained, "This is Kurama's true form as a demon but I have a feeling he's not like this on purpose." He looked down at the fox in front of him.

"How are we supposed to know what happened and how to help if he can't tell us anything?" Yusuke asked.

Genkai asked, "Kurama, can you still write?" He nodded. She pulled out some paper and a pen for him on the floor of her house.

Everyone gathered around while Kurama put the pen in his mouth and started writing. Yusuke said, "What the hell Kurama, your handwriting is atrocious how are we supposed to read this?"

"He's using his mouth, you fool," Hiei said.

Kurama wrote, _A strange smell attracted me to an abandoned house. A woman was there and trapped me in a metal box. When I woke up from the gas she used I was like this and now I can't smell anything and my telepathy isn't working._ He spit the pen out and showed them the paper.

Yusuke said, "This story doesn't make any sense."

"Where are you lost?" Hiei asked sarcastically.

Genkai said, "I've heard of such a solution. I have a powder of that kind of thing around here somewhere. Let me get it." She left the room.

Hiei asked, "Did this woman give you any clues?"

Kurama nodded and put the pen back in his mouth. _She mentioned the dark tournament, but it was clear she didn't know who I was before trapping me. She had to make sure I was Yoko Kurama._ He spat the pen back out.

"What do you think, Hiei?" Yusuke asked.

"It sounds like one of our competitors is trying to handicap us," he replied.

Genkai came back into the room with a bag. She reached it in and threw some dust at Hiei. "What the hell?!" he shouted and coughed. He instantly turned into his green demon form with extra eyes.

"This dust forces demons to reveal one of their fullest forms," she explained, "the dust only lasts a few minutes at the most but there is a liquid solution that once injected lasts 6 months." She looked at Kurama.

"6 months!" Yusuke shouted, "We don't have that kind of time, grandma. Is there a way to reverse it before then?"

She thought for a moment and said, "I personally have never had a need to reverse it's effects. Koenma will have the answer to that."

Yusuke stood up and said, "Let's go then!"

"Where are you going?" Genkai demanded.

"To help Kurama!" Yusuke shouted.

"You still need more training," she said, "Hiei can go with Kurama."

 _No,_ Kurama thought, _our strength will lie in numbers. Yusuke should go too._ He grabbed Yusuke's pant leg by his teeth and tugged on it. Then showed his teeth to Genkai.

"Hn," Hiei said, almost showing a smile.

Yusuke said, "Looks like you're outnumbered on opinions grandma. I'll be back from spirit world soon, I promise!" Hiei transformed back into his regular self as Yusuke ran out the door with Kurama.

"Dimwits!" Genkai shouted from the doorway at all three of them.

* * *

In spirit world all three of them stood before Koenma. "Wow Kurama," Koenma said, "you're looking mighty foxy."

 _I don't appreciate that,_ Kurama thought, and showed his teeth.

"Looks like he didn't like that comment," Yusuke said.

Hiei asked, "Do you have a solution or not?"

Koenma explained, "Yes. Pollin from a flower deep within demon world reverses it's effects, but spirit world doesn't have any control near there so any portal I can send for you won't be anywhere near it." He showed a picture of a pink and purple flower on the screen.

 _The submisive flower!_ Kurama thought, _Of course! Just rolling it in it should get me back to normal. Koenma's right however, it'll take a few days just to get to the valley that it grows in. That's not the kind of time that we can afford._

Hiei said, "I've seen that kind of flower before. My legs felt like they were on fire for days after I walked through a field of them once."

Koenma said, "Fire demons are allergic to them. If you inhale any of the pollin you'll be sick for days afterward."

"I'm not going," Hiei said.

 _Hiei we'll need your strength!_ Kurama begged. He tugged on Hiei's jacket some more.

Yusuke said, "Aw, look at him."

"Get off of me!" Hiei demanded as he kicked him away.

Yusuke replied, "So I guess you want Kurama to be stuck this way through the dark tournament. I've never been to demon world so I'll need your help on this Hiei. Come on, once we get to the flowers you don't have to get anywhere near them." Hiei narrowed his eyes at him.

"Yes," Koenma said, "and strength lies in numbers so I'll ask Kuwabara to join you. I know you're all training for the tournament, just think of this as extra training."

Kurama tugged at Hiei's jacket again, then bent down and used his paw to point at his nose. _Ask Koenma why my sense of smell isn't working, neither is my telepathy!_ He begged.

"What now?" Hiei asked.

"Oh!" Yusuke said, "Kurama said that his nose isn't working, and neither is his telepathicness."

"Telepathy," Hiei corrected, "mine won't work on him either."

Koenma said, "Who knows what else that woman injected into him. The scent she used killed his nose for the time being. That should go away within a month or so. She must have injected something else in you for your telepathy to not work."

Yusuke said, "Great, so we grab Kuwabara and then make our way to demon world."

"Wait," Koenma said, he threw something at lightning speed that clamped to Hiei's left wrist.

"What the hell is this?!" Hiei demanded as he pulled down his sleeve.

"That's just a tracker so I can watch you from here," he explained.

Hiei said, "I'm not a fool, Koenma. This is tracker so you'll make sure I'll come back to human word. Have you forgotten that Toguro promised to kill all of us if we don't show up?"

Koenma replied, "Fine Hiei, to put it bluntly I don't trust you. Anyway, don't worry about Kuwabara, I'll send Botan out to retrieve him. Wait here while I get a portal ready." Hiei glared at him.


	3. Into Demon World

"So this is demon world," Kuwabara said, "it looks so desolate."

"Don't be stupid," Hiei explained, "there are demons all around us right now, sizing us up to see if we're worthy to fight or not. They're also wondering why we're here coming from spirit world." He looked down at his grey bracelet angrily.

Yusuke asked, "What's this smell in the air?"

"The scent of rotting decaying flesh, it feels like home," Hiei replied, "I've missed it." Kuwabara went pale.

"Well I wish I didn't ask," Yusuke said.

They started walking forward through the empty plains that remained in front of them. Tall stark mountains and platuaes surrounded them and created stark valleys. Kuwabara asked, "So this is Kurama's true form, a little fox?"

 _I'm hardly little,_ Kurama thought, _I'm larger than a regular arctic fox in human world._ He trotted along.

"Partially," Hiei answered, "he also has a humanoid form where he can talk."

The ground shook as dozens are large demons suddenly surrounded them. Their large sizes, easily over 10 feet tall, and their muscels ripped through all of their scantally clad clothing.

Yusuke asked, "Are these they guys that have been watching us?"

"Only a few of them," Hiei said, drawing his sword.

"Their demon energy is pathetic," Kuwabara said, "we can take them, easy!"

"Humans don't belong in demon world," the ugly one in the front said, "you just signed your death wish!" They all attacked them at once. Kurama jumped onto their shoulders one by one as they all killed each other trying to attack him instead. Hiei sliced them down easily while Kuwabara used his sword and Yusuke fired several shot gun blasts. Within minutes everyone was dead.

"Well that was easy," Yusuke said confidently.

Hiei replied, "That was only the first wave. We should keep moving."

* * *

As they kept moving foward, they fought off several hordes of demons along the way. After the fourth wave the sun was starting to set. "Damn," Yusuke said, "is this what it's like a demon world-constantly fighting?" He struggled to catch his breath.

"Depends on where you are," Hiei replied.

Kuwabara asked, "What kind of forest is this?" They entered a forest with purple leaves and trees with large vines wrapped around them. "It's energy is amazing."

Kurama thought, _The forest of peace, harmful thoughts aren't permitted here. We should be safe._

"I've always hated this part of demon world," Hiei confessed, "makes me sick to my stomach."

We they entered the tree line butterflies started flying toward them in groups. Several landed on Hiei's shoulders and his head. One landed right on his nose. Yusuke laughed and said, "Should have brought a camera!"

"They're attracted to heat energy," Hiei explained as more swarmed around him. Some started landing on Kurama and the others.

 _These butterflies!_ Kurama thought, _They make me-_ he started sneezing uncontrollably to the point where his whole body shook. "Aw," Yusuke said, "poor Kurama."

"His sneezes sound aborable!" Kuwabara said.

 _Get these things off of me!_ Kurama thought as he ran away and rolled on the ground to get away from them.

Hiei engulfed himself in flames, either forcing the butterflies to flee or burn alive and set the ones around Kurama on fire. Almost as soon as they were all gone more flew in, attracted by the heat. _Nice try, Hiei,_ Kurama thought.

Yusuke asked, "So, how long through this forest?"

"We want the mountain on the otherside," Hiei explained as a butterfly landed on his nose again, "on the otherside of that mountain is the valley." Kurama stopped and covered his nose to help with the sneezing.

"Hey," Kuwabara said, "it's getting darker out."

"You mean we're going to have to camp out in this weird forest?" Yusuke asked, then looked at Hiei with butterflies all over his face and hair, then added, "I think I can live with that." Hiei's death glare had little effect with his nose having a butterfly on it.

They set up a fire, which only attracted more butterflies. Hiei covered Kurama with his jacket so he wouldn't have to be exposed to them. Kuwabara asked, "How come all of these butterflies like you so much, Hiei?"

"I told you," he replied, "they're attracted to heat energy."

"Sure but why-" Kuwabara started.

"He's a fire demon, dumbass!" Yusuke replied as he pointed to the fire Hiei created for all of them.

* * *

The next morning they headed to the outskirts of the forest to the bottom of the mountain. Kurama thought, _There should be a cave that'll take right through the mountain around here somewhere._

 _Kurama?_ Hiei asked telepathically.

 _Hiei! You can hear me now!?_ he asked.

 _Apparently,_ he replied, _yes. It makes me wonder why now all of a sudden it's working._

Kurama said, _Forget why. Tell Yusuke and Kuwabara about the cave. I can't telepathically communicate with humans in this form._

Yusuke said, "What a creepy looking cave up there." Ahead of them just outside of the forest was a stone mountain with a giant hold leading through the middle of it.

As they approached Hiei's vision started failing on him. Kurama asked, _Do you feel that?_

 _What is the hell is wrong with my eyes?_ he asked. The bracelet he was wearing from spirit world started glowing. Kuwabara said, "There's weird energy coming from that cave."

"Like what?" Yusuke asked.

Once they were standing right outside of the cave Hiei and Kurama started getting a migraine. Kurama said, _Whoever is in this cave doesn't want visitors. This is no good, we can't go through like this._

"We can't walk this way," Hiei said, squeezing his eyes shut so the sunlight wouldn't burn them out.

"Why?" Yusuke asked, "Hiei? What's wrong?"

"Kurama's acting up too," Kuwabara said, looking at the fox who had his paws over his face.

"Could you not talk so loud?" Hiei asked as his ears starting ringing in pain.

Yusuke asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Someone placed a demon block on this cave," he explained painfully, "it gives demons a migraine if they try to enter. We'll have to climb the mountain."

"What?!" Kuwabara shouted and looked up at the steep mountain in front of them.


	4. Hiei the Hero

"Do you have to be so loud?" Hiei asked, holding his head in pain.

Kuwabara asked, "How are we supposed to climb this insanely steep mountain?"

"Look," Yusuke said, "About 15 feet up it looks like a trail starts to the top. Get your spirit sword long and we can climb up it starting there." He pointed to a ledge several feet above all of them.

* * *

Once they were finally at the ledge, their migraines went away and they continued on the path toward the top. _Now that we're climbing up this mountain,_ Hiei thought, _this is going to take forever._

 _Indeed,_ Kurama replied, _we'll have to make camp somewhere along the way._

As they got closer to the top, the temperature kept dropping. Kuwabara said, "It's so cold." He hugged himself trying to keep warm.

"I hate stupid nature hikes," Yusuke complained, "if I knew we were going mountain climbing I would have brought a bigger jacket." He looked back at Hiei and Kurama who didn't even notice the temperature drop.

 _Hiei do something,_ Kurama thought, _they're going to freeze to death._ Hiei watched as they started to develop hypothermia and remembered all of the times they went through together the past few months from the saint beasts to rescuing Yukina. _Hiei even I'm getting cold,_ Kurama begged.

"Stay close to me," Hiei said as he created heat energy around himself. Kurama jumped his way up his jacket and curled himself around Hiei's neck shoulders.

"So warm," Yusuke said.

Kuwabara replied, "Gee, thanks Hiei." He was about to touch the flame.

"If you touch me you'll incinerate yourself," Hiei replied, glaring at him.

"What?" he asked, "But Kurama's fine."

Hiei replied, walking away, "Humans can't handle demon fire energy."

* * *

By the time they got to the top of the mountain it was nightfall. The only thing keeping all of them alive was Hiei's fire through the intense cold, ice, and snow. Yusuke asked, "Can you keep this up all night?"

"Not a problem," Hiei replied, "this is only a small amount of energy." He remembered how cold it was in the ice world and how his flame kept him warm even back then.

Kuwabara asked, "Do you guys feel that? Something's coming!" He stood up nervously.

Kurama stood up and looked ahead as far as he could through the now falling snow. He couldn't see into the distance at all. Yusuke said, "It's probably just another demon."

"Something's not right," Hiei said, "that cave down there, it's almost like it was a trap."

 _Yes,_ Kurama thought, _most demons would go around the mountain instead of over it like us, we don't have that kind of time. I figured we avoided any traps._

A screech filled the night as something approached them. As soon as they could see it everyone was horrifed. It has several limbs, tenitcals mixed with regular looking human arms and legs along with demon masses. Eyes covered almost every square inch of it's giant body and a giant mouth was in the center of it all. "What that hell is that thing!" Yusuke shouted.

"A cannible demon!" Hiei said, "It a low class monster that eats demons and takes on their demonic powers and body parts." It screeched at them as trekked closer to them.

"Spirit sword!" Kuwabara shouted as he tried to cut down a limb, "Nothing happened!"

Yusuke shouted, "Try this out for size, spirit gun!" He blasted him in the face but it only absorbed his power.

The demon took one of his hands and started charging a blast. "Uh, Urameshi," Kuwabara said nervously, "did he just steal your spirit gun?"

"Move, now!" Hiei shouted as he pushed Yusuke out of the way of a spirit blast. They landed on a slope with Hiei on top of Yusuke in time for him to disapate his fire energy. From there they started sliding down the mountain.

Kurama jumped on top of Kuwabara who also fell and started sliding down the mountain after him. The demon screeched as they disappared out of his sight. "This is one way to get down the mountain!" Yusuke shouted happily.

"Speak for yourself!" Kuwabara shouted.

As they moved faster Hiei saw a change in the terrain ahead. "What's that?" he asked.

"A crevas!" Yusuke shouted, "Stop! Stop!"

Hiei drew his sword and stabbed the snow through to the ice below in time to stop them from falling into the giant canyon that was in front of them. "A canyon? Here?" he asked.

"You didn't have to do that so close to my face!" Yusuke shouted.

"It was either that or die," Hiei replied.

Kuwabara screamed to the right of them. They looked over and saw Kuwabara dangling over the edge with Kurama holding his shirt in his mouth. "Help me!" Kuwabara shouted.

"Kuwabara!" Yusuke shouted as he stood up and ran over him.

Kurama asked Hiei, _Why is there a giant canyon in the middle of a mountain?_

 _It could be a trap,_ he replied.

After Yusuke helped Kuwabara up he asked, "Should we even keep moving?" A screech from the cannible demon from before echoed behind them. "I'll take that as a yes."

"How?" Kuwabara asked, "I don't see anywhere we could cross this and it's dark out. Maybe that demon won't be able to find us." The screeches got closer.

Hiei said, "Your sword, it should reach the otherside." He looked across and thought maybe he could see the edge of the other side. It was easily 30 feet, perhaps more, just outside of Hiei's jumping range.

"It's way too far."

Yusuke said, "Try it!" The demon screeched again, this time getting closer.

Kuwabara created his spirit sword and it barely made it to the otherside. Hiei quickly jumped to the otherside. "Wait for us, shorty!" Kuwabara shouted.

Kurama ran across the sword and held the end down. "Would you hurry up!" Hiei shouted. He used his jagan eye and saw the cannible demon was getting even closer.

Kuwabara and Yusuke used their hands instead of walking across in order to hang from the sword. The demon jumped at them from behind, causing them both to scream. The sword suddenly got back to shorter length. Hiei grabbed it and laid down against the ground to make holding it over the cliff easier. Kurama walked on Hiei's neck and pushed his face through Hiei's hair to look down at them.

"Don't let go!" Yusuke shouted, looking up.

Kuwabara said, "Aw, Hiei, Kurama looks so cute in your hair like that."

"I will kill you," Hiei said, glaring at him.

"Shut up and start climbing, Kuwabara!" Yusuke shouted.

They climbed back up to the top and the sword disappeared. The cannibal demon screamed at them in the distance and tried to get his tenticles across and failed. Kuwabara asked, "Why is there a giant canyon in the middle of a mountain?"

"It was a trap," Hiei said, "to force demons to climb the mountain by that thing. He must have blocked off the only way around the mountain as well."

Yusuke asked, "Should we keep walking? It's took dark and cold up here to see if anything else will spot us." He started shivering again.

"No," Hiei said, "we should be safe for now." He lit another fire.


	5. Back in the Flesh

When morning came Yusuke looked over the wall of the canyon. It was at least a mile deep with water flowing through it. "Holy hell," he said, "if we would have fallen last night we would have been goners for sure. Thanks for saving us Hiei, really."

"Hey I'm the one with the sword!" Kuwabara said.

Yusuke replied, "Hiei's the one that came up with the idea!"

"I'm going to leave both of you behind if we don't start moving," Hiei said. Kurama nodded as they walked away.

"Hold on!" Kuwabara shouted, "Wait for us!"

* * *

At the bottom of the mountain was a giant field of flowers that filled the entire valley. Kurama ran up and rolled in it, instantly turning back to his human form. "Wow!" Kuwabara said, "these flowers smell amazing!"

"Finally!" Kurama said, "I can talk again."

Yusuke asked, "Where did you clothes come from?"

"They transform with me," Kurama replied.

Kuwabara shouted, "Hey, Hiei! Come check out these flowers!"

Hiei stood at the top of ledge, sleeve over his face, and said, "No, I can feel them burning my eyes from here." He turned away so they wouldn't see a tear falling from his eye and turning into a tear stone on the ground. He glared at it.

Kurama said, "Don't mind him, we have to get back to human world."

"How?" Yusuke asked, "We can't climb back up there, we slid down, remember?"

"That monster is probably still there too," Kuwabara said nervously, "my spirit sword didn't do anything to it."

Kurama said, "It won't be very fast but going around the mountain might be an option. It'll add another day on of our time but we don't have much of a choice."

* * *

"Wow," Kuwabara said, "this path is so wide and easy to walk on and it's warmer than up there. We should have taken this before."

"Hate to agree with Kuwabara here," Yusuke replied, "but I think he's right."

Kurama said, "Stay alert, because this is the easy path there could be a trap anywhere."

As they walked down the wide path and came around a corner Kurama and Hiei stopped. Yusuke asked, "What?"

"Something's wrong," Kurama said, "it's far too quiet around here." As soon as he finished talking a giant cage fell out of sky. Hiei was pulled to the bars instantly as the others stood in the center.

"Something like this?" Yusuke asked.

A large tri-horned demon came from around the corner and said, "Well, well, well, let's see what's around here now. Humans? But you-" he looked at Kurama, "you're no human. Not really. In disguise I see, and you-" he looked at Hiei, "you're a fire demon. This isn't so bad after all."

Kurama demanded, "What do you want with us?"

The demon replied, "Don't talk to me that way! You're going to food for the cannible demon so it stays out of our way. The humans however, I'll eat them myself."

"Like hell you will!" Yusuke shouted, "Spirit gun!" He blasted a whole through the cage easily and hit the demon in the face, killing him. As they started leaving, the cage was being pulled into the ground.

Kuwabara asked, "What's it doing?"

"It's part of the trap," Kurama said, "Hiei! Get out of there!" He looked back and saw Hiei still inside.

"I can't," he answered, "my sword and this bracelet are attracted to these bars." He kept trying to pull himself away but he was stuck. He took his jacket off and saw his sword get stuck to the blade, sheath and all.

They ran in and tried prying him away. "Damn, Koenma," Yusuke muttered, "I'll just use my spirit gun and-"

"You'll kill him!" Kurama objected. Hiei glared at both of them.

"Spirit sword!" Kuwabara shouted and tried cutting the bracelet only to rip a huge gash into Hiei's arm instead.

Hiei said, "Ah! Watch it!" Blood poured down his arm and dripped to the ground.

More demons came from around the corner and said, "Stop them! They're escaping from the trap!" They all charged the cage.

"Shot gun!" Yusuke shouted. Most of the bars were broken and the demons were killed, but the cage was still being pulled into the ground.

Kurama said, "Rose whip!" He pulled out his whip and cut the bracelet without injuring him and cut down the cage easily.

"You could have done that earlier," Hiei complained, putting back on his jacket. He looked down and saw his sword was broken into pieces and left it behind.

Yusuke asked, "What the hell was in that cage? Superglue?"

"It was just a magnet," Kurama explained, "it attracted whatever metal was nearby."

Kuwabara said, "That stupid bracelet Koenma gave Hiei could have killed all of us. If you weren't so untrustworthy then maybe you wouldn't even need it in the first place and we would have been fine!"

"That settles it then," Hiei replied, "the next time you're in danger I _will_ let you die."

"Likewise!" Kuwabara replied.

"You idiot," Hiei said, "you've never had to save me."

"What do you think just happened!?" Kuwabara shouted.

Hiei replied, "I hardly call that a rescue on your part."

"We should keep moving," Kurama said, pointing down the path.

* * *

That night they camped out, still on the same path around the mountain. Yusuke looked up at it and said, "Wow, we're not even halfway around this thing."

"It's size is impressive," Kurama said. There was a wolf howling in the distance. "Oh no," Kurama said.

"Friends of yours?" Yusuke asked.

"I'm a fox, not a wolf," Kurama replied, "that sounded like the hemoglobin wolves, they're attracted to blood and kill injured demons, sucking the blood out of their bodies to gain strength."

Kuwabara said, "That sounds more like a vampire than a wolf." Another howl, only this time it was closer.

"Hiei," Kurama said, looking at him.

"If someone didn't nearly cut off my hand we'd be fine!" Hiei replied, pulling down his sleeve and showing his wound that was only just starting to scab over.


	6. Traps

More howls came in the distance as the wolves were clearly coming closer. "What should we do?" Yusuke asked.

"Running won't help," Kurama said, "and hemoglobin wolves usually run in large packs, around 100 or more of them altogether. We can't fight them all."

Kuwabara asked nervously, "They only like the blood of demons, right?"

Hiei said, "They'll still kill you."

Kurama took a leaf out of his hair and transformed it into a long vine, "Hiei, wrap this around your wound. It'll stop them from smelling the blood once they get close." He handed it to him.

Within a few minutes the howling stopped and Hiei's wound was covered. Yusuke asked, "Are they gone?"

"No," Hiei said, "we're surrounded."

Eyes appeared in the trees and large red wolves appeared in a large pack in a circle all around them. One of them transforms into a humanoid figure with red ears and a tail, wearing an all black and white chinese warrior's outfit. "Humans? Here in the middle of demon world?" he asked, "How strange."

Several others transformed also as more wolves came out of the forest and circled them. Kurama said, "We're only passing through, we'll be off of this trail within two days."

"We don't care about that," he said, "one of you is bleeding." He licked his lips.

Yusuke said, "You're wrong, must be something dead on the trail back there." He pointed behind him.

"Dead blood doesn't smell as good as live blood," he replied, sniffing in the air, "you're a fox, a fire demon, and humans. What a strange group. Why are you here?" Some wolves started smelling each of them, looking for the blood. "Wait a minute, the guy said, you smell like those flowers just beyond the mountain!"

Kurama said, "I did just roll in them earlier."

"Those lift curses," the wolve replied, "did the little fox get a curse put on him?" He wacked his tail in Kurama's face.

"Sir," one of the others wolves said, "none of them are bleeding."

"What?" he asked, "You're sure? They're all men so it's not like-" he stopped.

Yusuke finished, "None of us are menstrating, promise." The wolf glared at him.

One of the female wolves asked, "Then where did that smell of fresh blood come from?"

The wolf said, "Must have been somewhere else. All of you just got lucky tonight, remember that." He glared as them as he walked away. The rest of the wolves followed back into the woods.

After they were long gone, Yusuke asked, "Couldn't they have killed us all and taken our blood?"

"Their teeth aren't sharp enough to cut through skin," Kurama explained, "there has to be an open wound for them." He glanced over at Hiei. "Keep that on for now so we don't have to hear from them again."

* * *

The next morning they set out again, early. Yusuke remarked, "I'm surprised our confrontation with those wolves went over so well."

"Wolves are quite lazy," Kurama explained, "and there were 4 of us. Even with the dozens of them there are it would have taken a lot of work to attack us and win. They knew that, and since they didn't find any blood they left peacefully."

Kuwabara asked, "You don't like wolves, do you Kurama?"

"When I was Yoko Kurama I had run ins with them in the past," he replied, "I had to kill a whole pack once." Kuwabara and Yusuke looked at him nervously. "Stay alert, there could be more traps."

As they spent a few more hours walked around the mountain Hiei and Kurama stopped suddenly. "Something isn't right," Hiei said. Just as the ground beneath them started to give way Hiei jumped out of the way in time. "Thought so."

Kuwabara shouted at him, "You could have said something sooner!"

"Focus," Kurama said, "we need to get out of this hole."

"Humans?" a giant demon said as it came out of the forest, "I haven't eaten one of those in ages." He towered over all of them and looked down into the hole.

Yusuke said, "You don't want to do that, we taste terrible! Spirit gun!" He blasted the guy away easily.

"Are there traps everywhere in demon world?" Kuwabara asked.

"Sometimes," Kurama answered as he pulled a seed out of his hair. He put his energy into it and it turned into vines he manipulated into a ladder.

"Nice plants, Kurama," Yusuke said as he started climbing.

"Hiei you could have at least tried to do something to help," Kuwabara whined as he started climbing.

"I told you," he said, "the next time you need help I'm leaving you to die. If you had paid attention you might have moved out of the way in time." He froze, then turned around in time to move out of the way of a spear attack. _If I hadn't moved my head would be missing now,_ he thought as he looked for where it came from.

Kurama made his way back to the survice and asked, "Where did that spear come from?"

Kuwabara barely dodged another spear attack from seemingly nowhere. "Show yourself!" He shouted as he drew his spirit sword. More spears flew in all directions at them.

"Yeah Kuwabara, that really helped," Yusuke replied.

Kurama asked, "Who's doing this, Hiei?"

"I can't tell," he answered. He used his jagan eye to look all around them but it was as if no one was there, "they're concealing their energy whoever they are."

"We don't have time for this," Kurama said, "keep moving, and avoid getting speared." He started walking forward.


	7. Onto Spirit World

"I feel like there's something wrong here," Yusuke pointed out as they kept walking along the trail.

"Yeah," Kuwabara added, "it's like these people don't have any aim. These things aren't even trying to hit us." He put his spirit sword away as a spear moved passed him.

 _The fool has a point,_ Hiei thought. He watched as more spears seemingly missed all of them. Some even hit the ground before coming close enough to even try to make contact. As one neared him he reached out and grabbed it with his left arm. The muscels instantly froze. He couldn't let it go.

"Hiei?" Kurama asked.

"Don't touch them," he said, his arm seizing up, "they freeze your muscles." He tried to force his hand to let the spear drop to the ground by nothing happened.

A lanky demon with pale skin, dark blue eyes, and long bright purple hair jumped out from the tree line. "Finally, got one," it said.

Kuwabara asked, "Is that a man or a woman?"

"It doesn't matter," Yusuke said, "hey, what did you just do to Hiei?"

The demon used telekinesis and made his spears line up behind him. Hiei grew cold as he felt every ounce of his energy, including his life energy, being sucked away from him. The demon replied, "Interesting, fire powers." They pulled the spear out of Hiei's hand as he fainted.

"Hiei!" Kurama shouted as he saw him hit the ground, "that demon stole all of his energy."

"Indeed I did," the demon replied, "he's pretty pathetic though. Wish I could have gotten yours, cutie." They looked at Kurama.

The demon created a purple fire aura and charged for an attack. Kurama got out his rose whip so fast and cut the demon down to size instantly. "I said we don't have time for this," he said as the pieces of dead demon dropped to the ground.

Yusuke asked, "What happened to Hiei?"

"All of his demon energy was taken from him," Kurama explained, examining him, "he's going to be out for a while."

"So much for his help," Kuwabara said.

"We better get moving," Yusuke replied.

* * *

As night fell, Kuwabara carried Hiei until they decided to make camp for the night in the mountain's shadow. Just as it got cold enough outside Hiei started to stir awake. "About time shorty!" Kuwabara shouted as he shivered.

"What happened?" Hiei demanded as he sat up.

Kurama explained, "After that demon stole your energy I killed him and we had an uneventful day. Could you build a fire?"

Hiei rolled his eyes as he built a fire for them. "Thanks, Hiei," Yusuke replied.

"You should save yourself for once," he replied.

"Listen shrimp boy!" Kuwabara shouted, "If it wasn't for us you'd still be knocked out while that weirdo demon killed you back there."

"Kuwabara don't yell so much," Kurama warned, "We don't know who could be watching to try and spring a trap on us." _Besides, it's not like Hiei knew those spears were connected to that demon and would drain his energy,_ he thought.

Hiei looked away and said, "Hn."

* * *

The next day they finally made it through to the forest of peace. Just like before butterflies surrounded Hiei and landed all over him while they landed on the others sparingly. Kurama covered his face so he wouldn't sneeze uncontrollably again.

They all made it back to where the portal was reopened and they made it back to Spirit World. Koenma shouted, "What happened to your tracker!"

"Koenma," Kurama explained, "I had to break it off of his wrist, if I hadn't he would have been entrapped by a hoard of demons." Hiei pulled down his sleeve and took off the leaf Kurama came him. His cut was mostly healed, but you could still see where Kuwabara cut him.

"A trap?" Koenma asked, "Well demons can be testy in that area."

"Are you kidding?" Yusuke demanded, "We almost gotten eaten by stupid blood wolves because of that and we still don't know who did all this and we lost a week of training!"

Koenma said, "About that. The committee found out what happened and the Kikyo team has been disqualified."

"That's it?" Kuwabara asked, "We had to run from some cannible monster, got trapped twice, almost eaten by blood wolf things, and walk through icy conditions just to get her disqualified?"

"I lost a sword out there Koenma," Hiei said angrily, "when I steal a new one I'll make sure to sharpen it on you."

Koenma replied, "Now, now, Hiei, that's no way to act. I actually have a sword here just for such an occasion." He crouched under his desk and pulled one out.

Yusuke asked, "How long has that been there?"

"Long enough."

Kuwabara said, "So much for a break from training."

"We've wasted precious time," Kurama said, "we have less than a month left now. We better finish training you." Hiei snatched the sword off of Koenma's desk before walking away with everyone else.

* * *

"What's that smell?" Kuwabara asked, looking threw the trees.

"Still can't smell anything," Kurama replied solemly.

Hiei asked, "What are you talking about now?" Then it hit him. _The air is full of demon energy, I can see it with the jagan,_ he thought to himself, _how strange._ He moved into the shadows away from it and concealed his energy.

"You're back!" a woman said, coming out of the trees and nearing the three of them.

Kurama demanded, "Who are you?"

"You don't remember?" she asked coldly.

Kurama got out his rose whip and lashed it at her. She moved out of the way in time. Kuwabara asked, "How did you get this smell in the air?"

"It attracts demon foxes," she explained, "and it's full of my energy."

"You're the lady that trapped him in fox form!" Kuwabara shouted.

Kurama said, "Your attempted sabotage didn't work."

"I got disqualified because of you!" she replied lunging forward, "Now you'll pay for that!" She gasped as Hiei cut her to pieces with his sword. The energy and smell disappeared instantly once she died.

"Hiei!" Kuwabara shouted.

"What?" he demanded, "She was disqualified so it's not like I'll get punished. Good sword." He looked at his new blade intensely.

"Kuwabara," Kurama said, "let's get back to training."

* * *

The End


End file.
